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To select preferred contexts:

Go to Context Mode (Command-2).

Open the Sidebar colmn if it is not alread! "isible. #old Command and select the desired contexts $ith the%estions abo"e in mind.

&rom here' consider creatin indi"idal perspecti"es foreach of these states. n addition' creatin similar *e!commands for the perspecti"es ma! be bene+cial. &orexample' create the follo$in perspecti"es ($ith *e!

commands):

,hat can onl! be done at the oce (Shift-Command-o)

,hat can be done at the oce (Control-Command-o)

,hat can onl! be done at home (Shift-Command-h)

,hat can be done at home (Control-Command-h)

&O,:What is preventing this project from moving forward?

collectprocessorani/ere"ie$

do

#O01OT3 3440O3C# 5$ea*est lin* in the chain6

collect

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7 8 9"er! open loop mst be in !or collection s!stem and ot

of !or head.

2 8 o mst ha"e as fe$ collection bc*ets as !o can et b!$ith.

; 8 o mst empt! them relarl!.

process

3T

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Need More Clarity? (ANOTHER WAY TO MAKE SURE THAT

NATURAL PLANNING WAS COMPLETED)

If greater clarity is what you need, shift your thinking up the

natural planning scale. People are often very busy {action) but

nonetheless experience confusion and a lack of clear direction.

They need to pull out their plan, or create one {organize). If there's

78

CHAPTER 3I GETTING PROJECTS CREATIVELY UNDER WAY: THE FIVE PHASES OF PLANNING

a lack of clarity at the planning level, there's probably a need for

more brainstorming to generate a sufficient inventory of ideas to

create trust in the plan. If the brainstorming session gets bogged

down with fuzzy thinking, the focus should shift back to the

vision of the outcome, ensuring that the reticular filter in the brain

will open up to deliver the best how-to thinking. If the outcome/

vision is unclear, you must return to a clean analysis of why you're

engaged in the situation in the first place {purpose).

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orani/e

re"ie$do:3 &or-criteria Model7 context2 time a"ailable; ener! a"ailable? priorit!

> The Threefold Model for 9"alatin =ail! ,or*7 =oin prede+ned $or*2 =oin $or* as it sho$s p; =e+nin !or $or*

if itFs Est !o' attemptin to come p $ith a ood ideabefore de+nin !or prpose' creatin a "ision' and collectinlots of initial bad ideas is li*el! to i"e !o a case of creati"econstipation.

process

-prpose

t de+nes sccess.

t creates decision-ma*in criteria.

t alins resorces.

t moti"ates.

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t clari+es focs.

t expands options.

n order most prodcti"el! to access the conscios andncon-

scios resorces a"ailable to !o' !o mst ha"e a clearpictre in

!or mind of $hat sccess $old loo*' sond' and feel li*e.

!o need to see !orself doin it to do it' esp. in foreinterritor!

#ere are three basic steps for de"elopin a

"ision:

7 8 Hie$ the proEect from be!ond thecompletion date.

2 8 9n"ision ,= S

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Brainstorming Keys

Many techniques can be used to facilitate brainstorming and out-

of-the-box thinking. The basics principles, however, can be summed

up as follows:

Don't judge, challenge, evaluate, or criticize.

Go for quantity, not quality.

Put analysis and organization in the background

tFs also important that brainstormin be pt into theo"erall context of the plannin process' becase if!o thin* !oFre doin it Est for its o$n sa*e' it can seemtrite andinappropriatel! oD corse. f !o can nderstand it instead assomethin !oFre doin riht no$' for a certain period' before!omo"e to$ard a resoltion at the end' !oFll feel morecomfortablei"in this part of the process its de

Orani/inf !oF"e done a thoroh Eob of empt!in !or head of all the

thins that came p in the brainstormin phase' !oFll noticethata natral orani/ation is emerin. 3s m! hih school 9nlishteacher sested' once !o et all the ideas ot of !orhead andin front of !or e!es' !oFll atomaticall! notice natralrelation-

7/27/2019 Of Notes

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ships and strctre. This is $hat most people are referrin to$hen the! tal* abot proEect plans.Orani/in sall! happens $hen !o identif! componentsand sbcomponents' se%ences or e"ents' andJor priorities.

,hatare the thins that mst occr to create the +nal resltB n$hatorder mst the! occrB ,hat is the most important elementtoensre the sccess of the proEectB

The >asics of Orani/inThe *e! steps here are:

dentif! the sini+cant pieces. Sort b! (one or more): components se%ences priorities =etail to the re%ired deree.

The >asics =ecide on next actions for each of the crrent mo"in partsofthe proEect. =ecide on the next action in the plannin process' ifnecessar!.3cti"atin the Mo"in 4arts 3 proEect is scientl! plannedfor implementation $hen e"er! next-action step has beendecidedon e"er! front that can actall! be mo"ed on $ithot some

othercomponentFs ha"in to be completed +rst.---

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In some cases there will be only one aspect that can be acti-

vated, and everything else will depend on the results of that. So

there may be only one next action, which will be the linchpin for

all the rest.

What if there's still more planning to be done

before you can feel comfortable with what's next? There's still an

action stepit is just aprocess action. What's the next step in the

continuation of planning? Drafting more ideas. E-mailing Ana

Maria and Sean to get their input. Telling your assistant to set up

a planning meeting with the product team.

The habit of clarifying the next action on projects, no matter

what the situation, is fundamental to you staying in relaxed control.

How Much Planning Do You Really Need to Do?

How much of this planning model do you really need to flesh out,

and to what degree of detail? The simple answer is, as much as

you need to get the project off your mind.

In general, the reason things are on your mind is that the

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77

THE ART OF GETTING THINGS DONE jPART ONE

outcome and the action step(s) have not been appropriately

defined, and/or reminders of them have not been put in places

where you can be trusted to look for them appropriately. Addi-

tionally, you may not have developed the details, perspectives, and

solutions sufficiently to trust the efficacy of your blueprint.

Need More to Be Happening?

If more action is what's needed, you need to move down the

model. There may be enthusiasm about thepurpose of a project

but at the same time some resistance to actually

fleshing out what fulfilling it in the real world might

look like. These days, the task of "improving quality

Plans get you into

of work life" may be on the radar for a manager, but

things but you've

got to work your

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often he won't yet have defined a clear picture of the

way out.

desired result. The thinking must go to the specifics

of the vision. Again, ask yourself, "What would the

outcome look like?"

If you've formulated an answer to that question, but things

are still stuck, it's probably time for you to grapple with some of

the "how" issues and the operational details and perspectives

{brainstorming). I often have clients who have inherited a relatively

clearly articulated project, like "Implement the new performance-

review system," but who aren't moving forward because they

haven't yet taken a few minutes to dump some ideas out about

what that might entail.

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If brainstorming gets hung up (and very often it does for

more "blue sky" types), rigor may be required to do some evalua-

tion of and decision-making about mission-critical deliverables

that have to be handled {organizing). This is sometimes the case

when an informal back-and-forth meeting that has generated lots

of ideas ends without producing any decision about what actually

needs to happen next on the project.

And if there is a plan, but the rubber still isn't hitting the

road like it should, someone needs to assess each component with

the focus of "What's the next action, and who's got it?"

The fundamentals remain trueyou must be responsible for collecting

all your open loops, applying a front-end thought process to each of

them, and

managing the results with organization, review, and action.

Keep in mind, you can feel good about what you're not

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doing, only when you know what you're not doing.

CHOOSING AMONG NEXT ACTIONS

The Four-Criteria Model for

Choosing Actions in the Moment

Remember that you make your action choices based on the fol-

lowing four criteria, in order:

1 | Context

2 | Time available

3 | Energy available

4 | Priority

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Many people use the inevitablity of an almost infinite stream

of immediately evident things to do as a way to avoid the respon-

sibilities of defining their work and managing their total inven-

tory. It's easy to get seduced into not-quite-so-critical stuff that is

right at hand, especially if your in-basket and your personal orga-

nization are out of control. Too often "managing by wandering

around" is an excuse for getting away from amorphous piles of

stuff.

.... FEET LOOK BOTTOM DOWN DOWN BOTTOM UYGULA!!!!

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There are two types of projects, however, that deserve at least

some sort of planning activity: (1) those that still have your atten-

tion even after you've determined their next actions, and (2) those

about which potentially useful ideas and supportive detail just show up.

The first typethe projects that you know have other things

about them that must be decided on and organizedwill need a

more detailed approach than just identifying a next action. For

these you'll need a more specific application of one or more of the

other four phases of the natural planning model: purpose and

principles, vision/outcome, brainstorming, and/or organizing.

The second typethe projects for which ideas just show up,

ad hoc, on a beach or in a car or in a meetingneed to have an

appropriate place into which these associated ideas can be cap-

tured. Then they can reside there for later use as needed.

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Projects That Need Next Actions About Planning

There are probably a few projects you can think of right now, off

the top of your head, that you know you want to get more objecti-

fied, fleshed out, and under control. [...] If you haven't

done it already, get a next actionnow that will start the planning

process for each of these, and put it on the appropriate action list.

Then proceed with further planning steps.

Typical Planning Steps

Brainstorming Some of the projects that have your attention

right now will require you to do your own free-form thinking; this

is especially true of those for which you were not clear about what

the next action would be when you made that decision. These

should all have a next action, such as "Draft ideas re X."

You need to decide where and how you want to do that

action, in order to know which action list to put it on. Do you do

this kind of thinking best on a computer, or by hand-writing your

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thoughts on paper? I may choose either medium, depending on

what my intuition tells me. For me this next action would go

either on my "At Computer" list or on "Anywhere" (because I can

draw mind-maps wherever I am, as long as I have pen and paper).

Organizing You may have some projects for which you have

already collected notes and miscellaneous support materials, and

you just need to sort through them and get them into a more struc-

tured form. In this case, your next action would likely be "Organize

Project X notes." If you have to be in your office to do that

(because that's where the files are, and you don't want to carry

them around), that action should go on your "At Office" action list.

If you're carrying the project notes around with you in a folder, or

in a portable organizer or on a laptop, then the "Organize ..."

action would go on an "Anywhere" or "Misc." action list if you're

going to do it by hand, or on "At Computer" if you're going to use a

word processor, outliner, or project-planning software.

Gathering Information Sometimes the next task on

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project thinking is to gather more data. Maybe you

need to talk to someone to get his or her input ("Call

Bill re his thoughts on the managers' meeting").

If you arent writing anything down, it can be extremely difficult to stay focused,

on anything for more than a few min, especially if youre by yourself. but when

you utilize physical tools to keep your thinking anchored, you can stay engaged

constructively for hours!!!!!!!!

can help it. If you want to shut that voice up, you have three

options for dealing with your agreement with yourself:

1 | Lower your standards about your garage (you may have done

that already). "So I have a crappy garage . .. who cares?"

2 | Keep the agreementclean the garage.

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3 | At least put "Clean garage" on a "Someday/Maybe" list.

Then, when you review that list weekly and you see that

item, you can tell yourself, "Not this week." The next time

you walk by your garage, you won't hear a thing internally,

other than "Ha! Not this week."